Category: Clips & Pix

I know I just posted about the 50th anniversary edition of the White Album. In the meantime, I’ve further explored the massive reissue and simply couldn’t resist to write more about it.

The above clip is a studio take of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, one of my favorite George Harrison songs. In addition to George (vocals, Hammond organ, acoustic guitar), it features John Lennon (electric guitar), Paul McCartney (vocals, piano, bass), Ringo Starr (drums, tambourine, castanets) and Eric Clapton (lead guitar).

Not only have I gained a new appreciation for the incredible variety of music The Beatles wrote for this album (just consider the differences between tracks like Blackbird, Helter Skelter and Revolution 9), but it’s also been an eye-opener how unlike Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, they mostly recorded the White Album as a band playing live in the studio. Based on background chatter, it’s also obvious to me they had a good deal of fun.

You don’t sense any of the tension between them you always read about. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. After all it’s a fact that Ringo walked out at some point, since he couldn’t take it any longer. But it’s also true that John, Paul and George truly wanted him to come back and decorated the entire studio with flowers when he did.

So despite of all the conflict, The Beatles were still able to function as a band, as mind-boggling as that sounds! During a fascinating 90-minute panel discussion about the White Album, which you can still watch on YouTubehere, Giles Martin attributed this in part to the fact that John, Paul, George and Ringo really appreciated each other as musicians. At some point, he also appears to doubt that the conflicts between The Beatles were as bad as is commonly thought.

Here’s a clip from one of my all-time favorite artists, Carole King. Thanks to my older sister, who had the Tapestry album on vinyl, Carole was one of my first “discoveries” when I started listening to music as a 10-year-old or so. At the time, I didn’t speak English, so I couldn’t even understand any of her lyrics, which of course are essential to fully appreciate Tapestry. Even without grasping the lyrics, I was immediately drawn to the powerful and beautiful way Carole performs her songs. As the recently released above clip shows, she still has that magic passion to this day!

One is a tune Carole originally wrote and released in 1977 as part of her 9th solo album Simple Things. Worried about the current situation in the country, she was inspired to rewrite some of the lyrics. ” I kept thinking about the song “One” for which I had written both music and lyrics in 1977,” Carole noted. “It’s a song about wondering what we can do when we see injustice, and it expresses my long held belief that we – all of us humans – are most effective when we come together as “One” and stand up for our values such as dignity, inclusivity, equality of opportunity, and caring for our most vulnerable neighbors.” Eloquently said!

Part of what attracted me to the U.S. when I decided to live in this country more than 20 years ago were the above values. I also liked the idea of the melting pot and that if you were willing to work hard, the sky was the limit and it didn’t matter much where you came from and what accent you spoke. I realize this an idealistic view. I also understand that as a white guy, I easily fit in at least visually speaking. If my skin color were different, my experience may have been different. Unfortunately, racism and prejudice exist in all societies, and New York is hardly representative of America. But even with all these caveats, this country today feels very different than what I encountered 20-plus years ago.

I hope at the end of the day, despite the deep political division, people realize we’re all in this together. Each of us can play a constructive role. It starts with our everyday behavior. Stop aggressive driving. If you see somebody wants to enter a busy street, let them in. Hold the door for other people, even if you are in a rush to get to work in the morning. If you see an elderly person who has trouble moving wanting to cross the street, help them. This isn’t fucking rocket science. We can do this.

Here are the updated lyrics:

Poetic phrases come to mindWhenever I find injustice being doneAnd I wonder, what am I gonna doWhat am I gonna do

What can one do except be oneTalking to two, touching three, growing to four millionEach of us is oneAll of us are one

Open your heart and let the love come shining throughAnd you will do what you need to doTo know just where the other you is coming fromWe are one

It just amazes me that I can bePart of the energy it takes to serve each otherAnd I wonder, what am I gonna doWhat am I gonna do

What will we doWe’re gonna runReach for the sunCome together as oneShow ‘em how it’s doneAt the end of the day we’ll be able to sayLove won.

Sometimes you come across music that blows you away. Completely. It rarely happens. When it does it’s a beautiful thing. Check out the above clip of Beth Hart performing Leave The Light On. Turn up the volume and tell me this isn’t powerful shit! Frankly, I was close to tears when I did.

Leave The Light On is the title track of Hart’s fourth studio album. The above clip is from an upcoming record called Live At The Royal Albert Hall, which is scheduled for release on November 30th. I’ll be looking for that one!

Hart is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, who according to Wikipedia began playing clubs in Hollywood at the age of 15. Based on her birthday, that was back in 1987. Six years later, she released her first record as Beth Hart and the Ocean of Souls. After sampling a few tunes, this seems to be one smoking hot record! She has since released eight additional studio albums, one extended play, three collaboration albums and three live records, including the upcoming one. I’ll be sure to further check her out!

Here’s an excerpt from the lyrics of Leave The Light On. This is painful stuff:

Daddy ain’t that bad he just plays roughI ain’t that scarred when I’m covered up I leave the light on Little girl hiding underneath the bed was it something I did Must be something I said I leave the light on, better leave the light on.

As frequent visitors of the blog may have noticed, I’ve been a bit on a Cream trip lately. Undoubtedly, most of this can be explained by two great back-to-back tribute shows to the British power rock trio I saw recently.

Cream only lasted for two and a half years and three albums (not counting Goodbye, which was released after they already had disbanded). If anything, I’ve gained new appreciation for their music catalog and “discovered” tunes that weren’t much on my radar screen before. One of these songs I’ve really come to dig is Politician. Yeah, it’s only a simple blues scale, but I just love everything about it – Eric Clapton’s cool guitar riff and solo, Jack Bruce’s vocals and the tight rhythm section he formed with Ginger Baker. I know I’ve said this before and completely unbiased as a former bass player: No rhythm section, no band!

While I usually keep the blog to music and don’t comment on politics, posting the tune at this time feels weirdly relevant. I think it’s okay and even healthy for democracy to have different opinions but just wish certain politicians and other folks would remember that at the end of the day we’re all together in this. When you see the media being called the “enemy of the people” and some nutcase mailing pipe bombs all over the country, you know not all is well. But amid the grim picture, I haven’t lost faith in this country. Democratic nations deserve the leaders they have. There’s an election coming up, and if you don’t like what you see and are eligible to vote, go and do so – frankly, it’s your fucking responsibility!

Okay, with politics being out of the way, let’s get back to a more uplifting subject – music! Politician was co-written by the amazing Jack Bruce and his frequent music collaborator Pete Brown. It first appeared on Wheels Of Fire, Cream’s third and last album that came out while they were still together. The above clip is from their 2005 reunion concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Bruce and his former band mates Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton were in fine shape that night – boy, would I have loved to be at that show!

The above clip was captured in Tulsa, Okla. during the opening show of Fleetwood Mac’s 50-plus-date North American tour – the first featuring the band’s new lineup with Mike Campbell and Neil Finn and without Lindsey Buckingham. According to setlist.fm, Fleetwood Mac had not played Black Magic Woman since 1987. The tune goes back all the way to the band’s blues origins. Written by British blues rock artist Peter Green, Black Magic Woman was Fleetwood Mac’s third single released in March 1968. Only a couple of years later, it became a signature song and major hit for Santana.

I realize posting this footage may trigger some comments, or maybe not, but one thing is for sure – ever since Fleetwood Mac announced Buckingham’s exit and their new lineup, there has been a good deal of debate whether the band can be same without him. In my opinion, the answer is a clear ‘no,’ but I also feel this doesn’t mean they can’t go on. Plus, it’s worth remembering that this wasn’t Buckingham’s first departure.

To be clear, I think Lindsey Buckingham is a terrific artist who wrote or co-wrote many Fleetwood Mac tunes I dig, such as Monday Morning (Fleetwood Mac, 1975) The Chain (Rumours, 1977), Tusk (Tusk, 1979) and Big Love (Tango In The Night, 1987). His distinct vocals blended well with Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie. And let’s not forget he’s a really talented guitarist with a signature sound. Fleetwood Mac simply cannot be the same band without him – and that’s okay!

I will say the circumstances of Buckingham’s departure look unfortunate. Supposedly, there were artistic disagreements between him and the band about the tour, which was then in the planning stages. Sure, at the time there were five members in Fleetwood Mac, and when it’s four against one, at some point you have to figure out how to move forward as a band. But the speed with which that decision was made is remarkable, especially when it comes to a longtime member like Buckingham, who had been with Fleetwood Mac for a total of 38 years, if my math is correct. He already departed once before in 1987 and returned in 1992.

I think it’s intriguing that Fleetwood Mac have revamped their set list, which now combines older material and deeper cuts like Black Magic Woman, Tell Me All The Things You Do (Kiln House, 1970), Hypnotized (Mystery To Me, 1973) and Monday Morning (Fleetwood Mac, 1975) with usual suspects, such as The Chain (Rumours, 1977), Dreams (Rumours), Rhiannon (Fleetwood Mac, 1975) and Little Lies (Tango In The Night, 1987). I also feel the inclusion of Crowded House’sDon’t Dream It’s Over Over and Tom Petty’sFree Fallin’ is okay and doesn’t make Fleetwood Mac a cover band.

Having said all of the above, I saw Fleetwood Mac (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks) once in 2013, just months prior to the announcement of Christine McVie’s return. It was a solid show, and I think that does it for me with seeing this band live for time being, especially given high ticket prices and other artists I’d like to see.

I swear this is yet another coincidental occasion that resulted in a spontaneous post. When checking out YouTube for something else, I got distracted, stepped away from the computer for a few minutes, and when I got back this killer clip was playing. I just couldn’t resist posting about it!

The Wall isn’t even my favorite Pink Floyd album (that would be Meddle), though I’d put it in my top 5, together with Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, as well as Relics, an excellent compilation of the band’s early stage. That being said, I’ve always dug Comfortably Numb, which David Gilmour co-wrote with Roger Waters. In no small part that’s because of Gilmour’s epic solo. While I oftentimes feel less is more when it comes to guitar solos, there are exceptions, and this is one of them – when the guitar-playing is as great, I don’t mind if a solo is a bit massive!

The above clip is from a 2016 David Gilmour concert at the Amphitheatre of Pompeii, which according to Wikipedia was the first public performance there since AD 79. ‘Wait a moment,’ you might say, ‘how about the 1972 documentary Pink Floyd: Live At Pompeii?’ While the band indeed played there what was a typical live set at the time, there was no actual audience beyond the film crew. Maybe I’m romanticizing a bit here, but can you imagine how frigging awesome it must have been to be a member of that crew?

BTW, in case the guy singing co-lead vocals somehow looks familiar, it’s Chuck Leavell. The American singer-songwriter and keyboarder was a member of The Allman Brothers Band during their heyday in the ’70s. He has also worked with artists like Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Gov’t Mule.

The above track Let The Left Hand Know… is from Billy Gibbons’ new solo album The Big Bad Blues, which appeared last Friday – his second after Perfectamundo from November 2015. According to the official press release, it focuses on Gibbons’ lifelong love of the blues and rock & roll…[and] features 11 tracks balancing some classic covers like “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” and “Standing Around Crying” [both by Muddy Waters], along with some of Billy’s signature new blues originals. The above tune is among the latter.

Commenting on his affection for the blues, Gibbons said, “I suspect Jimmy Reed did me in early on. The inventiveness of that high and lonesome sound remains solid and stridently strong to this day. We could go on to mention the lineup of usual suspects, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy, all three Kings [B.B., Albert and Freddie]. The lengthy list of champions are forever carved in stone.”

While Let The Left Hand Know… is nothing we haven’t heard from Gibbons before, its nice shuffling groove and the blues harp fills make for a fun listening experience, as does the remainder of the album. Gibbons is sharing harmonica parts with blues harp player and singer-songwriter James Harman, though I don’t know who is playing the instrument on this tune.

Gibbons is supporting his new album with a 25-date tour kicking off October 13 in Riverside, IA and concluding in Los Angeles on November 18. The schedule is here.